Computing and people who work with computers are not the nerdy and negative images often portrayed in the media. As a computer scientist, educator and project evaluator with my hands and feet in many fields I live these realities every day. I am like the kid who never stops asking “why?” In this blog, I share my questions and curiosity about the interdisciplinary role of computing with a special concern for how computing can make the world a better place.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Today's meeting of the Processing workshop was as stimulating as yesterday's (see the post from yesterday). As before, the day was a blend of interactive instruction about Processing and hand's on time to code with the system. However, we went deeper - one of today's topics was data visualization using Processing. Check out these examples of linguistic poetry visualization by Ira Greenberg.

Here is an absolutely fascinating data visualization of Eurozone debt. Although I don't know if this is written in Processing or not, I have learned enough these past two days to tell you it would be fairly straightforward to do so.

Data visualization brings together the computer science and the generative art solidly. It isn't just about making pretty pictures. In order to create meaning and relevance in your visualization you need to manipulate, perhaps transform, your data. Depending upon the application, this could mean pulling in calculus, trigonometry, geometry, physics, and chemistry. It could mean creating well thought out OOP code, efficient threading and algorithmic selections, array manipulation, random number generation. Another one of the workshop leaders, Deepak Kumar, showed us a class assignment where students must use an array of Objects to create a row of streetlamps (any design they want) that randomly turn on and off.

We experimented with creating code that behaves like those art boards where you paint with water: as you draw lines/shapes with your mouse they fade behind you at whatever rate you dictate.

Web interfaces, network communication, digital audio generation. One of our workshop participants expressed an interest yesterday in working with sound in Processing - today we were listening to her computer broadcasting music from across the conference room.

The blog header is very much "me", however you can see more formal information about my evaluation & assessment work at www.lisakacz.com . You might also like my book: "Computers and Society - Computing For Good" (CRC Press 2012) www.computers-and-society.com